Laura Borbolla

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The disappearance and murder in Veracruz from February 5 through 11
of local journalist Gregorio
Jiménez de la Cruz remains mired in controversy.

In mid February, after Jiménez's murder, a group of
journalists traveled to Veracruz and investigated the authorities' response to the
journalist's killing. On March 19, the group, called Misión de Observación, published the
findings of its unprecedented investigation in a report called "Gregorio:
Asesinado por informar" (Gregorio: Murdered for Reporting). Their report documented
Jiménez's disappearance and murder, the state's ineffective response, and the less-than-supportive
working conditions of his newspapers in southern Veracruz.

Organized crime capos and corrupt politicians have been
getting away with murdering journalists in Mexico for so long that there isn't
a reliable count on the number of the dead or a useful way to measure the
crushing effects on a democracy when a country's press is afraid to tell the
truth. CPJ research shows that, of 69 journalists killed since 1994 in Mexico,
28 were clearly killed because of their work, and nearly all of those directly
targeted for murder. But the killing started years before that, the numbers are
not dependable, and the motives are often unknown, because the professionalism
of the investigations is doubtful. Mexico's state governments have simply
failed to find those responsible, and journalists working outside of the
capital have for the most part decided their only protection is to not cover
stories the killers don't want covered.